Blog Posts From The Brave Programmer

So you think you are too young or too old to learn to program

Feb7

Written by:2009/02/07 11:21 PM

A nine-year-old Malaysian boy in Singapore has written a painting application for the Apple iPhone.

This should serve as an encouragement. So many times to I hear people saying that they are either too old or too young to learn how to program. Even more so, some just think that they can't learn another programming language. It's too difficult.

Lim Ding Wen created the finger painting program, known as Doodle Kids, for his two younger sisters aged three and five. The program allows iPhone owners to draw images on the handset's touch screen using just their fingers. Just like doodling on a piece of scrap paper, but on an iPhone.

Lim, who is now fluent in six programming languages, first started using a computer when he was two-years-old, discovered programming aged seven, and has since completed more than 20 programming projects

While most children of his age are painting or drawing with crayons, Lim Ding Wen has been programming.

The program has been downloaded more than 4,000 times from Apple's iTunes store in less than two weeks. So the question is, if Lim can do it so can you and I. It's just a matter of believing in yourself, having the drive and will power to learn something new, and a passion for what you do. Read the story here.

I have moved from several different programming languages in my life time, and I am not that old. We have to keep learning, or we fall behind and die. Soon we will have Visual Studio 2010, C# 4.0, .NET4.0. Then we have to start the whole learning process over again. Yes, we will bring with us the experience and knowledge of what we have learned in the past. But we still have to put ourselves though the pains of a new learning curve.

This story really encourage me into believing that I can learn any new programming language. If he can do it, then so can I.

How many programming languages do you know? Are you looking to or in the process of learning a new language? Let us know what they are. For me I know at least, 6-7. Maybe not as fluent in them all as I should be. But I get by.